| Title: | Automatic on-line monitoring of atmospheric volatile organic compounds: gas chromatography-mass spectrometry and gas chromatography-flame ionization detection as complementary systems |
| Author(s): | de Blas M; Navazo M; Alonso L; Durana N; Iza J; |
| Address: | "Chemical and Environmental Engineering Department, University College of Technical Mining and Civil Engineering, University of the Basque Country, Colina de Beurco s/n, 48902 Barakaldo, Spain. maite.deblas@ehu.es" |
| DOI: | 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2011.08.072 |
| ISSN/ISBN: | 1879-1026 (Electronic) 0048-9697 (Linking) |
| Abstract: | "Traditionally air quality networks have been carrying out the continuous, on-line measurement of volatile organic compounds (VOC) in ambient air with GC-FID. In this paper some identification and coelution problems observed while using this technique in long-term measurement campaigns are described. In order to solve these problems a GC-MS was set up and operated simultaneously with a GC-FID for C2-C11 VOCs measurement. There are few on-line, unattended, long term measurements of atmospheric VOCs performed with GC-MS. In this work such a system has been optimized for that purpose, achieving good repeatability, linearity, and detection limits of the order of the GC-FID ones, even smaller in some cases. VOC quantification has been made by using response factors, which is not frequent in on-line GC-MS. That way, the identification and coelution problems detected in the GC-FID, which may led to reporting erroneous data, could be corrected. The combination of GC-FID and GC-MS as complementary techniques for the measurement of speciated VOCs in ambient air at sub-ppbv levels is proposed. Some results of the measurements are presented, including concentration values for some compounds not found until now on public ambient air VOC databases, which were identified and quantified combining both techniques. Results may also help to correct previously published VOC data with wrongly identified compounds by reprocessing raw chromatographic data" |
| Keywords: | "Air Pollutants/*analysis Chromatography, Gas Cities Environmental Monitoring/*methods Flame Ionization Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry Hydrocarbons, Aromatic/analysis Hydrocarbons, Chlorinated/analysis Online Systems/instrumentation Spain Volatile Or;" |
| Notes: | "Medlinede Blas, Maite Navazo, Marino Alonso, Lucio Durana, Nieves Iza, Jon eng Evaluation Study Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't Netherlands 2011/10/08 Sci Total Environ. 2011 Nov 15; 409(24):5459-69. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2011.08.072. Epub 2011 Oct 5" |
